4:56 pm
Hey everyone-
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a real blog post. I either haven’t had time, topics, or will-power to write anything. I want to start writing more….I really do. I know I say that with every blog I post, but I really do want to do more blogging. We’ll see how that goes. Well, here are some of the things that are going on in my world right now.
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I am fully settled into my new apartment. It’s a great little place, perfect for me, I think…especially considering how infrequently I am here. It’s interesting though…this is the first time I have lived completely alone in my life. I was either with my mom, married, or with a roommate all the way up until this point. It’s a great place, and I love it. And best of all….it cut my drive to work from 28 minutes to 12 minutes!!
((Ironic Sidenote: As I type this, I am listening to music….which was playing louder than the oven timer that had been beeping for 4 minutes….. Hey, I said I liked this living…I never said I was good at it….yet. ))
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Speaking of work, that is going REALLY well too. I really like the guys that I work with, and I really love what I do. It’s interesting; as I look back at all of the technical things I have done….no 2 jobs I have done have been the same. I have been stretched in a slightly different direction each time. This job is no different. I am dealing with systems I had never even previously heard of before. I am the Technical Director, but I am also the Lighting Designer; which means every single weekend, I have to create a brand new look/show that matches the feel and flow of that particular show. Talk about keeping you on your toes. Not only that, but I am doing it on a console that I had enver previously worked with before, the GrandMA. Talk about trial by fire!!
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A couple years ago, a great friend of mine donated a set of drums to me. It was an incredibly generous offer, and something that I feel incredibly blessed by. I have recently joined a band here in town, that is full of incredibly talented musicians. In fact, out of 8 of us in the band, I am 1 of only 2 white folk. It is a worship band, and these guys are amazing. We play this Saturday, a then again on October 11th. Playing with them has allowed me the opportunity to get back into playing, as well as get some new cymbals for my kit. For you music geeks:
10″, 12″, 14″, 16″ Toms
22″ Kick
14″x4″ Pearl Piccolo Snare
14″x6.5″ Custom Snare
13″ Timbale
10″ Zildjian A Custom Splash
10″ Sabian B8Pro Splash
12″ Paiste 802 12″ Splash
12″ Wuhan China
14″ Zildjian K Custom Mini China
16″ Zildjian China
18″ Sabian B8Pro China
12″ Sabian AAX Fast Crash
14″ Sabian AAX Fast Crash
16″ Zildjian A Medium Thin Crash
18″ Zildjian A Custom Projection Crash
20″ Zildjian A Custom 20″ Medium Ride
13″ Zildjian A Custom Hi-hats
14″ Sabian B8Pro Hi-hats
I am proud of it, and excited about the opportunity to minister again.
Imagine that…..restored to ministry again….. There are a handful of you that are steaming now, I’m sure.
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the pics from above are from the March installment of 10MINUTEMAX. Notice the costume of the second picture…that is all done with lighting!
I know this is a little redundant, but I think it’s going to be a great thing, and where as the last blog was the official realease of the event, I want to give you a real-life look into the event. 10MINUTEMAX is a variety show of sorts, that brings some of the most talented people from Vegas together, and allows them to express themselves creatively. Think about it, many of the performers on the strip are from several other countries, and many of them have perfected their art, and brought their act to Vegas to show off. Some performers started in Vegas, and used it as their lauching pad to become the great performers that they are today. This is a chance for them to stretch out, do something outside of the act them perform night after night, a chance for them to explore themselves. There are musical acts, dancing acts, acrobatics, aerial acts, monologues, and so much more. I have the priveledge of being the Lighting Dept. Head for this event, which gives me almost full creative control to light this however I want, using as many unique methods as I can think of. It should be a GREAT event, and if you are in the area, you should stop by. I can honestly say, there really is nothing else like it here. Tickets are $15.00, doors open at 8:30pm on Monday, September 22nd.
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And I guess that’s it. Things overall, are going very well. I can’t wait to see what the next several months bring. Stay Tuned!!
3:09 pm
Hey everyone!
I am honored to be a part of a show that is happpening downtown, right off of Fremont Street here in Vegas later this month. Check out the write up below, and let me know if you are interested. Tickets are only $15.00!!! Where else can you see Cirque performers for $15.00?!?!
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Dream City’s new installment of the 10MINUTEMAX performance series is just around the corner!
10MINUTEMAX is a semi-yearly performance series, taking the best stage talent Las Vegas has to offer and creating a medium for experimentation, stretching of creative limits, and collaboration the likes of which this city has never seen. It truly is a milestone for Las Vegas’ entertainment community, and an unforgettable experience for those attending as well as participating.
Our new installment of 10MINUTEMAX is on Monday, September 22. Doors open at 8:30pm, shows at 9pm. There is something for everyone in this unique and adventurous variety show: Rich visual environment, magicians, aerialists, dancers, musicians, some of the
best artists in the world collaborate here on the Las Vegas stage to bring you an evening full of talent, ingenuity, and heart.
11:36 am
Hey Everyone!
I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I thought I would send you all something you might find helpful. A new website was developed just for people like us…Church musicians, technicians, worsrhip leaders, vocalist, web designers, and others, to talk about music reviews, microphones tips and tricks, Worship Conferences, church advertising, church set lists, a special section for leaders, and dozens of other topics. I am a moderator on this site, and I oversee all of the technical aspects, Audio, Lighting, Video and projection, Rigging, Technical Production, Service Producers, etc. It’s a great site to share with churches of other denominations and sizes…to get help, and to help others. I encourage ALL of you who are involved with church music/production in ANY way…visit this site, join, starting chatting with people about real church issues. It’s getting bigger and bigger every day!!
SEE THE SITE HERE
3:21 pm
UPDATE: I have put most of my Set Design pictures up from various sets that we have done around the Ridge since I have been here. Some of the best pictures were too large for Flickr, but at least you can see some of what we have done over the last couple years. more Base Camp pictures are on their way soon!
Hey everyone! Just a quick note, to let you know that I have posted some pictures of the new Children’s Building, the subject of my last blog, on Flickr for you to see. You can view them HERE. Please note, I am not a photographer, so they aren’t all that great, but at least you can visualize the things that I have been talking about. I will add more as I take them. Also, feel free to check out our new WEBSITE layout here.
3:04 am
Wow.
There it is…2006 summed up in one 3-letter, 1-syllable word. To date, I’ve seen 23 of these years go by; some of them I don’t remember at all, some I’d rather not, even if I could, and some that will stick in my memory forever. Regardless, one fact grows more and more apparent to me each and every year…each passing year seems to be shorter than the one before it. I mean, I just now got used to writing 2006, not 2005 on date-sensitive material. Now, I have to re-learn it again. Where did the time go? What did I do? What happened?
REFLECTIONS
I think I can remember almost this entire year. One of my favorite sayings is that I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, much less anything that was told to me weeks or months ago…..eluding to the fact I don’t retain a lot of useless facts in my long-term memory. It wasn’t until recently that someone pointed out to me that I don’t eat breakfast….which may be the key reason in never remembering what I ate…….nonetheless, to say I remember parts of an entire year is, well, impressive.
I can think back through lots of things…My dad’s retirement party…workings hours and hours to design the AV systems for this Children’s Building…Chris’s Wedding…Worship Under the Stars….Easter….Aaron Peck…the Arts Conference…weekend after weekend serving at Canyon Ridge…playing drums for Chris Tomlin’s "The Noise we Make"…King’sFaire….the nightmare that was Craig’s sabbatical…Hiring Chris…hearing Chris say he was leaving…Fun times with friends…my stupid dogs…waiting for Cory Edwards to stop learning how to do new things….hiring Stephen…..the list goes on and on.
I did a lot, in the sense I was busy all the time….but what did I DO? Did I impact you? Did I impact you POSITIVELY? Did I make a difference somewhere? Am I out of breathe for no reason? We are 24 days from moving in the new building, and things are getting done….I made life-long friends at the Arts Conference….I was part of an incredibly inspiring worship event back east…..all of these things lead me to believe that NO….it wasn’t for no reason…..but the over-analytical part of my brain wonders what didn’t get done, because of the times I got lazy, or I didn’t do it with excellence. Who got overlooked….who got jilted…..what could I have done better?
I have encountered some truely amazing people this year…and have started what I hope to be, the basis of a life-long friendship with some of them. At the same time…..it seems this year that close friendships that I had, seemed to dwindle away to nearly nothing…..right before me…..part of life I guess? Being in Las Vegas a little over three years now has begun to rub off on me a little…..because if I could sum up my 2006 in one motto phrase, it would be "you’ve got to play the cards you’re dealt". I got a lot of things the way I wanted….I got a lot of things I didn’t want….I got a lot of things I tried not to get, but got anyways….I’ve had things I wanted, but didn’t get. All of these made me who I am now….whether I liked them at the time or not, I am HOPING that they have made me a better, stronger, happier person. Time will tell I guess.
Ripples
Usually, reflections in water are caused by the ripples you make. Look at a pool by a house….you don’t see the reflection of the water on the side of the house, until you begin to make ripples. But in this case, it was my reflections, that are going to cause the ripples.
What is 2007 going to bring? I have no idea. I know the usual….a birthday in May….2 new buildings at church….Easter….Christmas…but past that, what? I know I am going to make some new friends….and unfortunately, going to lose some too. But this year, I’m going to cause some ripples. Not just plug a cable in the wall, but plug it in, and help someone understand that by plugging it in, they are helping bring the Word to someone who has never heard it. Not just develop friends, but develop friendships that go deeper than the occasional "hello"…friendships that I can learn from, and that can learn from me. Not just help produce another worship event back east, but create a moment for God to reveal Himself to me and others in a way He never has before. I don’t want to just do it…..I want to DO it.
The ones who read this may just be the people who have impacted me the most….some more than others….you know who you are. For all of you though, thank you for what you have offered me this year. I hope that in some tiny way, I was able to impact you this year.
Have a great New Year’s everyone…..thanks for being part of my life story…..because of you, it’s sure to be a Best Seller.
6:43 pm
Well, right on the heals of Worship Under the Stars came King’sFaire, Canyon Ridge’s fall festival event. This year, as in years past, we had tons of rides, food vendors, candy, and a concert inside the main auditorium. This year, our official number was 11,163 people for the overall event. I was able to slip outside a few times, and it was apparent by the smiles on the faces of the people who walked around that the increase in number didn’t affect the mood of the night. It was tons of fun, although tons of work.
I got home from Georgia about 1am Monday night (Tuesday morning). I had planned to work Tuesday, but they had lost my bag somwhere, so I had nothing that I needed in order to prepare myself for the public eye…..so, I took the chance, and caught up on my lack of sleep from the week before. So, load-in began Wednesday, my crew of the day consisted of Cory and Don, both who were IMMENSELY helpful all week long. We got to the two rental houses to pick up all of the extra lighting and rigging gear. We got back just in time to unload, and prepare for Wednesday night service, the last service Sean would be leading in there with the Student Ministry team. As usual, they all rocked the house. What a talented group of people. The night ended with that service, and teardown of the stage.
Thursday was an early day; and myself, Don, and Cory were joined by Jim, a volunteer I have been trying to get involved for months now. We hung all of the lighting and trussing, and got it all wired up. Friday, we finished hanging the set, and programmed a few cues for Don, or resident King’sFaire lighting guy to cycle through. The bands arrived, and began to set up. They sound checked, and were done by 5pm….A record early ending. Everything was ready to go…..LIGHT-YEARS easier than the show a week earlier, but just as fun.
The show started, and it went off well. Rob Williams did a great job mixing the band, and Don did a great job lighting them. Pictures of the event will come soon. Thanks to everyone who hung out in the booth during the show, it’s always great to have people hang out with us in there during the show….some people more than others :).
So, two major events behind me…now what? Well, no major one-time events on the horizon now. Now, I have a position to hire, and I am continuing working on the Canyon Ridge expansion project. Thanks to everyone who helped me make the King’sFaire concert a success….whether you bolted truss together, or just helped me not to stress out, you are all appreciated. 
1:35 am
Volunteer Holocaust…a term that Chris Moncus coined (and graciously let me use in my blog before he used it in his own…thanks Chris!), but a concept that I have been ranting about for nearly 3 years now.
We were having a discussion about how you have to come to the point where you must accept things, and people, for how they are, and focus on the things you can change, and let go of the things you can’t (for you people who read these blogs in order, this concept will sound familiar…). For both of us, one of the things that we must make ourselves move away from, is our home churches back in Georgia. We, for a short period of time, went to the same church, but most of our time was spent at two separate churches. Those two churches however, shared similar denomination, relative church size, ideas, politics, and lack of vision.
Here are my own thoughts…these ideas are not endorsed by any other church or business or organization; they are purely my own observation. I have been in the church since birth nearly. As I have gotten older, I have worked with DOZENS of churches for various reasons, one of which I work at now. Growing up in Georgia (which is the heart of the Bible belt), going to church is what you do, period. It doesn’t matter why, it doesn’t matter what you do when you get there, it doesn’t matter what you did the night before you went there…It is engrained into the southern way of life…On Sunday’s, you go to church before lunch…and that’s how it is. I think it is that mentality, which has created the downfall of the East Coast churches. It affects everybody….church members don’t feel pressured to step out of their comfort zone, church staff live comfortably with the lack of motivation in their church….church members don’t get involved in ministry…and church staff complain about how little they are getting in tithes. Life has always been this way for them…they don’t know any better…..they don’t know it doesn’t have to be that way….and sadly….that don’t even realize that it SHOULDN’T be that way.
The churches where Chris and I came from were very focused on what I call, “playing church”. It reminds me of being a kid, and moving my spinach around on the plate, just to make it look like I was doing something…like I was making some sort of progress. That’s what our churches did…and continue to do. They aren’t making much headway…they are simply moving pieces around, causing enough of a stir to look like they are doing something, so they can feel better about themselves. They start a fundraiser, but come in several thousand dollars short, because of the lack of vision. They want a projection system, but don’t believe it’s worth the money, and refuse to do it right. They are considering selling their land right now, to move out to a different part of the city…they have contacted some cheap architect, who is more concerned about decorations, and giving the church a cookie-cutter building, instead of finding someone who is right for them, and who will design a building that is functional, and will give them what they need.
I could spend the next two hours going through COUNTLESS things that both of our churches make terrible, COSTLY decisions with, but that’s not the point. The point is that these churches have TONS of potential…it’s nearly dead at this point, like a tumor on the body of Christ, the unused potential is actually weighing them down, instead of lifting them up.
Those churches have several hundred members each, and each of those members having SOME type of gift, skill, or talent to offer. But both of our old churches, for whatever reason, refuse to listen to, or utilize those people. Instead, they continue to do their own thing, because they (the leadership) think it’s a good idea…or in an even worse case scenario, they listen to the wrong people, and follow their lead. They are slowly squashing out every serving opportunity available inside the church. They are annihilating the environment for people to connect through serving, therefore annihilating the number of people who serve, THEREFORE pushing people away from the church, and leaving all of the serving opportunities to a select few…which is how church dictatorships start. At my old church, there is a lady there who nobody likes really, and 90% would agree that she has her hands in too many things….but nobody will say anything. I would be willing to bet, that it’s because they don’t want to fill her shoes.
Serving is a vital and NECESSARY part of a person’s spiritual growth. For a church to not provide that opportunity, they are setting a double standard, because they preach how people should get closer to God, but they don’t allow that chance. I know my old church has created an atmosphere, where you serve because you have to, or they pressure you into doing something. I know someone there who always uses the “I deserve_____, I have taught Sunday School for 10 years”. Do yourself and everyone else a favor….Quit teaching today. You aren’t teaching for the church….you aren’t teaching for the people in your class…..you are teaching for you….because you have been called to do it. If you think that you deserve a reserved parking space because of it, get over yourself. The second you expect something in return is the second you are wrong. Shame on you for carrying that thought around, and shame on the church for letting you harbor it. I know others that serve because they feel obligated to, because they are “filling a hole”. Again, serving is not about what you are doing, or the task at hand; the task at hand is about allowing the opportunity to serve. Again, shame on the church for putting the focus on the task. It’s not about that.
So, in the defense of the church, maybe they just haven’t been told what is right, or better to do. Maybe, if someone with experience or something to offer that they NEED were to come to them, they would accept the help…because it’s all about advancing the Kingdom, right? Wrong. I have nearly 15 years of technical experience inside the church; Chris has several years to offer his church as well. For years now, we have been trying to get them to listen….we ARE the people they are trying to reach…and we are offering to give them the keys to reaching our generation of people. Yet, they refuse. It’s not what they have always done. It’s not conventional. It’s not comfortable. It’s not what THEY think is right, so it must not be. Despite the experience we may be able to offer them, they refuse it.
Volunteer Holocaust was the term that started this thought process in me…and it’s right on the money…the churches are annihilating and alienating their members, and their abilities….these churches are killing themselves.
As you can imagine, it’s hard for us to swallow sometimes. Churches that we spent COUNTLESS hours in, trying to make it the best we could, with what we had to offer. To leave, and see that they have trampled over what little mark we may have had, and they aren’t looking back….and refuse to look forward….is sad. They are stuck in their ways, and there is nothing Chris or I can do about it. So what do we do? We look at the resources and potential that Canyon Ridge has, and we are immediately blessed and thankful to be out of the misery of our old stagnant churches. Canyon Ridge treats their volunteers LIGHT YEARS better than our old churches….and better than that….they are always looking at how to do it better. What a place to be. If only other churches could get a glimpse of how it is supposed to be….
I very purposely do not ever mention specific church names or denominations, just because I am not interested in slamming peoples name….but I’ve gotta get this out…
Southern Baptist Churches (specifically the ones I was involved with), you guys have MISSED THE BOAT. You are focusing on the wrong things. Nobody cares about your green carpet….they would rather see and hear better. They don’t care that the pulpit is solid Oak….they just don’t care. They don’t want to be preached to, they want to be taught. Doing it halfway IS NOT better than not doing it at all. Serving isn’t about you making yourself feel good. Having your seat every week in your pew is selfish. The church is about being relevant. As Mitch, my boss has said, “the church as a whole is about seeking the lost, NOT pacifying the saved”. We as the church leadership aren’t here to make the saved people happy, and sing 16th Century songs until we are blue in the face….we are here to connect to the 21st Century in 21st Century ways.
Churches!! Get over yourselves, and stop the Annihilation…it’s making the body of Christ look bad, and it’s killing us all….
12:01 am
Joy.
We’ve all wanted it. Most of us have had it. We all need it. But what is it?
I think the term has a little ambiguity to it…The dictionary defines it as “Intense happiness”. But, what does that mean? Where does it come from? I recently had this conversation, or at least a piece of it, with a very good friend of mine, and that conversation sparked a deeper thought on the subject, and consequently, this blog. The premise of our conversation was that they (the person I was talking to) were having a hard time in a couple areas of their life, and that resulted in them not having fun in places where they should, and not enjoying the things that were supposed to be fun. In the midst of the conversation, this one comment brought to me a realization that, until they said it, I had never considered it.
“I once had joy….and I let something steal it from me.” A thought we have probably ALL felt before, at some point or another. But just as they said that, I instantly, without planning to, began to think about what they had just said. The sentence itself is actually very smart….to identify that you had something, and that you let something, or someone, or some circumstance take it away from you, is a very smart thought. The person I was talking to is EXTREMELY intelligent, so it didn’t strike me at first. But then my mind began to race, and that race brought me to this blog. Nehemiah said “Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (8:10). It is in Him that we find our joy as Christians. Are there times when being a Christian is hard? Of course….in fact, every day that we live where it isn’t hard, means we may be too comfortable in being inactive, or complacent with living in the background. As Chris Moncus has said, we need to enjoy the “easy” times as Christians, because they are rare…but we have to make sure that we aren’t negligent to the point of keeping ourselves there. Trials are hard…they are no fun. But it is what you do with them that make up who you are. The Bible says in John “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (10:10). The devil is ALWAYS looking for an “in” when it comes to Christian and their lives…I think this is especially true for those who are really doing a great work, or have the potential to do great work, for God. The devil will use people, or situations, or circumstances that you can’t control, and try to make you lose faith in Christ. Not your overall acceptance of Jesus, but your faith that he is really running the show. In another conversation I had, with a different person, they were sharing how in the last couple of weeks, they had a hard time at work…things weren’t going well for them, because there were several problems that were beyond their control to fix, that were standing in the way in their job. To make matters worse, it wasn’t that they couldn’t fix the problems because they didn’t have the ability to….they did….it’s that they weren’t allowed the opportunity to. It was this stalemate that made their job so frustrating. They realized one day, that you can’t worry about things you can’t change. Sometimes circumstances just are what they are, and you have to accept them, and learn how to best utilize them. After that, they began to work with what they had…they did the best they could, and God’s glory was revealed, even in the midst of things not being “right”. They are now really happy in their job, because they realized it’s not about the details, it’s about Christ, and making an impact for Him, DESPITE the pitfalls of life. Was it, and does is still continue to be a journey? Yes. So, maybe it’s not so much that you had joy, and someone stole it from you….but maybe it was God’s Joy, and you stole it. It’s so easy to get into the human state of mind, where we fret about how things are going to turn out, or how things could be better, or whatever… But sometimes, God is putting us in the situations He is, because He wants to show us something….He wants us to stop worrying, focus, and find His joy that WE misplaced. He isn’t moving, He is leaving, and He’s not going to let us fall. We have to realize that our mission is to “Seek and Save the Lost” (Luke 19:10). The odds might not always be in our favor, but we have to know, that God has specifically placed us in the positions that we are in. We are here, to offer our talents, our skills, and our abilities to further His kingdom, and bring glory to His name. The Bible says “For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.” (Deut. 16:15). We can’t get caught up in the crummy details that Satan tries to put in our lives, because that is how he wins….We have to constantly remind ourselves that we, as Christians, are always in this together, hopefully giving it the best we can, all for one common purpose…to seek and save the lost.
Don’t let the Devil steal God’s joy from you…Serving Christ should be fun, exciting, and fulfilling every second we are in His presence. As soon as we feel obligated to serve, or that we have to serve, the Devil has won. "I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first." (Rev. 2:4-5)
Today’s Disambiguation? Joy equals Christ. Period. It comes from Christ. It IS Christ. And Christ equals Love….and Love equals Patience, Kindness, Thoughtfulness, and a host of other characteristics (1Cor. 13:4). There is nothing confusing about that. Keep God’s joy close to your heart, and guard it. He will bless you for it.
I want to leave you with the lyrics to a Shane Barnard song, “Received”. I encourage you to find it somewhere, and listen to it. I hope you enjoy.
you can only go so far, until the bottom falls out
all my singing, smiling, pleasure finds me, I’m all right
pretty melody, dedicated to God
to be called by one Almighty God and take it for granted
heard a rumor I guess, but I wanna know who told me so
told me serving You replaced me knowing You!
Can I be received?
unclean oh Lord am I
find me in my shame
You are all I need
please don’t pass me by
I call upon Your name
You whispered to Your child today
but I haven’t got a minute to listen
Your child is busy with the work of God and taking Him for granted
got a lot to do today, kingdom work’s the game I play
Lord my serving You replaced me knowing You
can I be received?
unclean oh Lord am I
find me in my shame
You are all I need
please don’t pass me by
I call upon Your name
11:56 pm
So, again, it has been quite a while since I have put anything on here…..every time, I say I am going to do better about blogging more often, and every time, I fail…..so, I’m not going to even bother saying that this time….. I am writing this blog, after having just returned from a trip to Willow Creek in Chicago for the Willow Arts Conference. This trip was AWESOME this year….the relationships that we all got to build during that trip was AMAZING….a truly talented group of people. It was this trip that helped me realize how CRCC is blessed in a way that sadly, many other churches aren’t. I have been working with a few churches in town, helping them to become better at what they do by raising their production value, their technical transparency, etc. In all of these churches, they are all very talented people, and many of them have tons of potential in the area that they serve. The problem, in almost every church so far that I have worked with, is their relationships with each other. The band members think they are right every time….so do the sound guys…..so do the vocalists…..so does EVERYONE in the group….and they spend all of their time together arguing about how it SHOULD be done, instead of just doing it, or finding a middle ground. At one particular place, I am pretty sure that the drummer and audio guy actually HATE each other….. The sad thing is, out of about 5 churches I am working with, this is true for 3, and sometimes 4 of them…..and that is just in Vegas…..so what does that mean for ministries and churches nationwide? Could it really be that 3 out of 5 churches are dysfunctional, because of their team member’s relationships? Sadly, yes.
The church I came from was in a similar situation at times…people who had no business serving where they were serving where left untouched, because nobody wanted to "hurt their feelings"……new ideas or church plans never happened, because it might make someone upset….staff members kept secrets from each other…..volunteers didn’t like working with certain other volunteers……yet, the church continues in the same path today, because the majority refuse to even recognize a problem (whether out of ignorance or stupidity, who knows), and because nobody wants to hurt anyone’s feelings.
We seem to have it all wrong.
Sure, I understand that we shouldn’t be out to get someone, or do things just to hurt their feelings……but at the same time….it really isn’t about them….it’s really not about any of us. Being a church is about growing the Kingdom, and reaching the lost…..it is about catering to peoples NEEDS….NOT their needy-ness. See, the moment you let your feelings get hurt because someone else is trying to advance the Kingdom, you are making it about you….saying that what YOU want is more important that was everyone else wants….or even what is best overall. Even for the over-achieving, gung-ho volunteer who has a vision for how things "should be"….if someone tells them otherwise, and they make it a personal attack, they have missed the point. Serving in the church is just that….serving. It’s not about self-advancement, or getting the spotlight, or even doing a task…..it is about using the gifts that GOD GAVE YOU, to help bring HIM honor. It’s amazing, as I look at these churches, and the one I came from, many people serve, because they think the church "needs them", or that they have something amazing to offer….No offense….but we don’t need you….We are providing a place for you to say "Thanks" to God for giving you what He has given you. On more than one occasion, my boss has come up to me and told me to do things a different way than I was doing them…whether it be mixing sound, the way I built a particular set, the way I put a microphone on someone, WHATEVER…my first reaction is usually the urge to punch him in the face (I say that half jokingly, because I see that he has subscribed to this blog)….but I have to remember that he isn’t doing that to be a complete jerk…or just to screw up my day….he is doing is because like myself, he cares about the whole experience, and knows it can be done better. If I were to dwell on the fact that he thought I was wrong, I would be missing the point. It’s not about what I think is right….it’s about me doing my very best, and taking direction from those above me.
I say all of that to say this I guess…there are SO MANY churches out there who are struggling; not because of finances or membership drops….but because they are too caught up in petty things to have the freedom or ability to move forward. "Playing church" is not acceptable folks, neither is a church that isn’t going anywhere….. small churches aren’t bad…..but a church staying small because of their lack of mission IS.
I was so proud of my team in Chicago…..as we were all playing volleyball together, I took a moment a looked….we had staff, volunteers, old, young, actors, musicians, technicians, vocalists, producers, writers, programmers, leaders, etc…..we even had a tag along from another church, that nobody (except for 3 of us) had met before…..and there we all were……playing together…..having more fun together in that one week than many church staff’s have over 10 years. There were no age lines…..no official title lines…..no experience lines……just a team who actually loved each other. I think we take that for granted sometimes, but it is, disappointingly, a rare thing in churches across America. Way to go guys…..I know I built some AMAZING relationships out of this trip that will last a lifetime…..
I will soon be posting some pictures of this trip on this page…..stay tuned…
2:15 pm
Hey everyone!
I just wanted to post a quick blog, to tell you all to sign up at the right ———>>>
to recieve an email when I add a new blog here. I have talked to a lot of you who say you read it, but I don’t have many of you on the list to recieve the automatic update. Feel free to put in your email, that way you don’t have to continue to check back only to find nothing. If you don’t sign up, I will take it very personally
Also, feel free to look back through the old blogs. There might actually be something worth reading in there…..
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